Cabin decks

[Solo]

Looking at pictures and the model of Honfleur got me thinking about which decks the cabins are on.  On the Armorique and Honfleur they are all above the public areas which makes a long walk from the car decks, on the likes of the Pont Aven most of the cabins are above the car decks, so it's only a couple of decks to climb up, not 5 or 6 decks as it can be on the Armorique.  For the fit it's not a problem but for some like my wife who has mild Asthma  it can make her breathless, I know the answer is to use the lifts but they are generally very busy with people who really need them.

[Gareth]

Moving them to the top decks on Armorique was probably entirely deliberate, to keep the cabins away from the alarms of cars where the owners did not deactivate them.  I’d be surprised if BF reversed this improvement with Honfleur.

[Nick Hyde]

From looking at the artists impressions of Honfleur the cabins are definitely above the public rooms. You can tell the public rooms with the larger windows. 

[straightfeed]

9 hours ago, Solo said:

Looking at pictures and the model of Honfleur got me thinking about which decks the cabins are on.  On the Armorique and Honfleur they are all above the public areas which makes a long walk from the car decks, on the likes of the Pont Aven most of the cabins are above the car decks, so it's only a couple of decks to climb up, not 5 or 6 decks as it can be on the Armorique.  For the fit it's not a problem but for some like my wife who has mild Asthma  it can make her breathless, I know the answer is to use the lifts but they are generally very busy with people who really need them.

As a regular commuter  from spring to autumn on Armorique and with a wife needing to use a lift to get to the car deck 5 heres what we do.
Stay on a cabin deck (8 or 9) or even go up to one of these decks before docking and watch the 2 lifts for any stopping at deck 5. This now means the car deck doors are open. Shuffle into a lift at 8 or 9 and press for 5. Lift stops at 6 to be greeted with queues of pax trying to get on the lift. Hard luck for them as its filling up already from above.

At slacker times we sit on deck 6 but instead of playing with phones (telling the world you've arrived somewhere) we keep an eye on a lift that that starts to go down to deck 5, again meaning the doors are open on 5. Nip in quick before the crowd notices. Any queues go up to 8 to grab an empty lift on the way back down. 

Easy peasy! A few days ago we did just that at Ply only to find no one was on the car deck and the ship was not finally docked. Beat everyone!!

[straightfeed]

"Easy peasy! A few days ago we did just that at Ply only to find no one was on the car deck and the ship was not finally docked. Beat everyone!! "

Forgot to mention--. My dear wife was so embarrassed at getting to the car before being officially permitted to that  she tried to hide under a coat in in the car in case she had to "walk the plank" in shame.

[cvabishop]

Going back to the original post I think it is just a case of following general hotel and cruise ship practice. Public rooms and facilities on the ground floor(s) surmounted by a monolithic accommodation block with sometimes additional facilities on the roof.

Like hotels, ferries feature underground garages! It must make the design and construction process much easier and cheaper than splitting up the accommodation and its supporting services such as plumbing.

[Solo]

1 hour ago, cvabishop said:

Going back to the original post I think it is just a case of following general hotel and cruise ship practice. Public rooms and facilities on the ground floor(s) surmounted by a monolithic accommodation block with sometimes additional facilities on the roof.

Like hotels, ferries feature underground garages! It must make the design and construction process much easier and cheaper than splitting up the accommodation and its supporting services such as plumbing.

True but the difference is in a hotel we take the lift up to our rooms, can you imagine if everyone used the lift on a ferry where everyone arrives at the same time not like a hotel where check in is spread over several hours.

[cvabishop]

You are right but I suspect costs trump customer convenience as in so many other areas of travel these days. Cruise ships also suffer from a scramble for the lifts at certain times but there tend to be more of them..

[scarlton]

On 20/09/2019 at 17:44, Nick Hyde said:

From looking at the artists impressions of Honfleur the cabins are definitely above the public rooms. You can tell the public rooms with the larger windows. 

The cabins start on deck 9, above the public areas somewhat similarly to the Armorique.

[BigDW1946]

If I remember rightly Bretagne has some cabins on deck 2. Not very pleasant and the stairs are steep. Stayed there once, but after that always checked ticket when booking and if cabin number started with a 2 we rang up and got it changed.

[Gareth]

BF do not build ships any more with cabins below the car decks (and below the waterline).  As high as possible above the car decks to get peace and quiet in the night is the current philosophy.  And it works very well on Armorique which, by popular consensus, gives the best night’s sleep of any ship in the fleet.

[neilcvx]

Somewhat @Gareth some of the deck 9 cabins can be a bit noisy now due to the scrubbers but generally it works well.

Armorique scrubber noise.

[Cabin-boy]

1 hour ago, Gareth said:

BF do not build ships any more

That's true! They try to do so or get other people to do it for them, sometimes, when they can be bothered, etc. Ed. 

[Solo]

32 minutes ago, Cabin-boy said:

That's true! They try to do so or get other people to do it for them, sometimes, when they can be bothered, etc. Ed. 

Do you work in the press Ed?  Taking half a sentence and making a quote of it.

[cvabishop]

Cabins below vehicle decks on new builds have been probibited for years now..

[Cabin-boy]

13 minutes ago, cvabishop said:

Cabins below vehicle decks on new builds have been probibited for years now..

Does that also hold for crew accommodation?  Ed. 

[Cabin-boy]

1 hour ago, Solo said:

Do you work in the press Ed?  Taking half a sentence and making a quote of it.

No, just playing around. Sorry. 

My godfather is coming to stay on Friday night this week. He was originally booked on Honfleur overnight but when they told him it would be Normandie instead, with a deck 5 cabin, he decided to cancel, stay an extra night in France and take the Saturday afternoon crossing instead. To say he was unimpressed is an understatement. Ed. 

[Gareth]

1 hour ago, Cabin-boy said:

Does that also hold for crew accommodation?  Ed. 

Good question.  And also, is that under world-wide regulations or something more local to Europe?

[jonno]

2 hours ago, Cabin-boy said:

Does that also hold for crew accommodation?  Ed. 

Modern ferries don't have any accommodation below the water line. You can have cabins adjacent to vehicle decks,on a deck 5 for example.

You could be cynical and suggest that carriers are more concerned about the liability payout if someone trips over a watertight door sill and breaks something but I'm sure there's something in the regs now which states that post such and such a year of build vessels must sail with all watertight doors closed including those between engine room compartments.

Pont Aven's retractable deck 5 fire doors are also watertight so too are the ones in her dedicated escape corridors which can only be accessed in an emergency, they're a bit like secret passageways found in National Trust properties and run the length of the ship on both sides. Access is designed in such a manner that if she turns on her side any open access doors can easily be crossed in one stride and there's no cavernous drop down an adjoining corridor if you do fall through. Doors also open inward so those above remain open whilst those below at your feet can be closed and sealed.

Ultimately it's not about saving the ship, it's about creating air pockets to increase buoyancy and to give those aboard more time and free movement in an otherwise dark, confusing and obstacle strewn debris field.

Have a read of Escape Regulation 13.

[BF Enthusiast]

Surely if a ship goes on it’s side, it’s sadly fatal for all, escape corridor or not.

[canberra97]

On 23/09/2019 at 11:11, Cabin-boy said:

Does that also hold for crew accommodation?  Ed. 

Yes it does also hold for crew accomodation. It's part of International Maritime Law that prohibits all accomodation under the water line on all new builds and it has been so for several years now.